Finally, she opened the door to her room at the spa. "This is a really nice hotel, isn't it?" she babbled, her brain scrambled from everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. "Have you ever been here before?"
Rose immediately wanted to take the words back. Of course he'd been to the hotel before. And the way he nodded, with his head bowed so she couldn't see his eyes, only testified to the number of weekend flings he must have had here. This very room, possibly.
Rose took a step back from the bed, where she was rummaging through her bag for a semi-cute outfit. She would never be able to sleep in the bed now, with visions of Jack and all his lovers going at it. The message light on the phone on the bedside table was blinking-she hadn't thought to check her cell in between all the hot sex-and she was glad for the excuse not to have to make more small talk with Jack. Especially when she couldn't get the image of his string of sexy lady friends out of her head. "My girlfriends are probably wondering where the heck I am' she said as she sat down on the edge of the bed and dialed in the retrieval code, surprised to find out she had three messages.
"Hey, it's me," Vanessa said, sounding slightly put out. Rose felt immediately guilty for having skipped out on their girls' weekend together. If only Jack weren't so wonderful, so talented with his hands and mouth. Vanessa's voice cut into Rose's Top 10 Sexy Things About Jack list. "I just tried your room but you weren't there, so I'm hoping that means you're getting lucky with the chef hottie. Too bad I can't say the same for myself. I'm posing for a painter and he's got this stupid rule about ... I'm too wound up to talk about it. Don't worry about me, I'll be back Sunday afternoon. And I'll have gotten exactly what I want by then. Let Carrie know that I'm AWOL, would you?"
Rose was confused by Vanessa's message. She was posing for a painter? Was this something she'd set up ahead of time and forgotten to mention?
But Rose had two more messages to listen to. Carrie was next and immediately launched into apologies about meeting a man named Tyson, and needing to speak with James. Rose smiled. She was glad that Carrie had found someone already, although Rose had to admit that she was worried about how fast it had happened. Rebound relationships were perfectly normal. Not that she had any personal experience with getting a guy on rebound until this weekend, of course.
She hit the pound key to play the final message. "Hi, Rose! This is Hilary Tones from the Napa Valley Visitor's Bureau, and I wanted to check in with you to find out how your cooking lessons with our very own fabulously talented Jack Gerard are going. I was hoping we could take some pictures of one of the lessons for our newsletter and website. Could you please give me a call?" She left her number, and Rose quickly grabbed the pen and pad next to the bed lamp and wrote it down.
She hung up the phone, and Jack, who'd been staring out the window, turned to her. "Is everything all right with your friends?"
"They're fine. At least I think they are. Neither of them have spent much time here since last night. I guess we're all off on adventures this weekend." She gave him a bold smile. He said he liked saucy, didn't he? Before this weekend she hadn't known she'd had a saucy side, but she was having a lot of fun exploring it. In bed and out. "I want to leave them a quick message' she said, wondering how she was going to mention Jack without gushing while he was in the room.
Of course he read her mind. "I'll wait for you in the lobby." After the door clicked shut, she pulled off the ugly borrowed dress and slipped on a matching set of red lace bra and panties. She'd have to remember to thank Vanessa for insisting she bring them. She grabbed a red scoop-neck T-shirt that flattered her full bust and a jean skirt that she hoped made her waist and butt look smaller than they actually were.
She dialed Carrie's room. "Carrie, it's Rose. I just got your message and I'm so happy for you! Don't worry about having fun, I haven't been spending much time at the hotel either. I won cooking lessons with a local chef, and, Carrie, he's incredible. I'll tell you all about it on Sunday. Only, is it horrible if I don't want to leave?"
She hung up, feeling like she'd revealed too much, even to her best friend. She dialed Vanessa's room. "Vanessa, it's Rose. Sorry I wasn't here last night. You aren't going to believe the weekend I'm having. Although maybe you would. Because Jack Gerard is incredible. We've hardly done any cooking, because, well .. :' She was sounding like a lovesick idiot, and she cut the message short. "Can't wait to see you on Sunday;' she said. "Try and be nice to your painter;' she added. "I'm sure he's already in love with you:' Hanging up the phone, she ran a brush through her hair and put on a quick application of mascara and lip gloss before going to find Jack. He was at the reception counter, chatting with the gorgeous brunette clerk. All of her insecurities welled up again, and she hung back behind a potted plant.
The woman looked up and spotted her. "There she is!"
Jack spun around and smiled. "I was starting to worry that you'd ditched me; he joked, not knowing how close he was to the truth.
Rose forced a smile. "I forgot to tell you. Hilary from the visitor's center called. She wants to know how the lessons are going."
"What are you going to tell her?" he asked as he waved goodbye to the clerk.
Forcing a light, sassy tone into her voice-she was going to enjoy the next twenty-four hours, she had the rest of her life to be an insecure mess-she said, "I might have to tell her the truth."
"Which is?"
She felt more than a little wicked, and frankly, wicked felt so much better than insecure. "That we haven't left the bedroom long enough to make it to the kitchen."
Jack threw his head back and laughed. "I'd love to see the look on her face if you really said that." Rose giggled. It was one thing to be saucy and crazy with Jack.
But she could never say something like that to a stranger.
"She also wants to take our picture. During a cooking lesson:' "Think we can keep our hands off each other long enough?" he asked as they turned the comer and arrived at the door to his restaurant. Her face grew hot. She'd been thinking the very same thing.
A few seconds later he ushered Rose into Gerard's. "I want to introduce you to the guys at the restaurant:' She was inordinately flattered that he wanted her to meet his friends and coworkers.
"Larry, come meet Rose;' Jack said to an enormous, but very handsome, man with a crew cut and about a dozen tattoos. Larry took his time looking Rose up and down. She felt herself blush under his scrutiny but quickly realized that Larry not only wasn't repulsed by her ample curves but was fairly salivating over her. Larry kissed the back of her hand like she was royalty. "It is a pleasure to meet you;' he said, and she felt her blush bum hotter. She was about to thank him when he said, "But you're with the wrong guy. I'll give you everything you want. Diamonds. Rubies. Crazy good sex. Just dump this loser:'